Sportsmen of yesteryear:

Oldest living Cricket Captain of Ananda

by Meghavarna Kumarasinghe

I decided to write about Bobby Wickramasinghe as he is the oldest living cricket captain of Ananda. He is 86 years of age. I visited him at his residence in Malabe by prior appointment. He welcomed me very warmly and we had lunch together.

His beloved wife Manel passed away in 1999 after a brief illness. She was a daughter of Mrs. Thelma Amarasekera, a former Principal of Bishop's College Colombo. Ever since his wife's death, Bobby has been cared for by a loyal house keeper who attends to all his personal needs and takes good care of him as he is unable to walk properly due to an ankle injury suffered some years ago.

Bobby joined Ananda, from Nalanda Vidyalaya in 1944, at the age of fifteen (15) and was admitted to form (II) (standard 07). From the beginning he (Bobby) at the age of 42 years participated enthusiastically in inter house athletics and became school champion in several years. He represented Ananda at Public Schools Athletic Meets, his events being throwing the Discus, Put shot, the triple jump, long jump and 220 yards hurdles.

Bobby was equally good at cricket. He first played for Ananda in 1947 as one of the opening pace bowler. Later he opened the batting as well. As an athlete he had developed the physical attributes required for pace bowling in addition to being a six footer. In that year Bobby was recognized as one of the most accurate pace bowlers in the school cricket circuit.

He played a key role in the Ananda team of 1947, taking vital wickets as well as scoring runs. His performances as an all-rounder were recognize by his coach ( M.A. Jayasinghe) and the Prefect of Games (L.S. Lecamwasam) who without hesitation selected Bobby as captain of the Ananda team in 1948. The coaches were Messrs M.A. Jayasinghe a former Ananda cricketer and Peterpillai, an old Josephian. At the time there were two foreign coaches in Ceylon to coach talented cricketers from the schools viz Learie Constantine from the West Indies and Badcock from Australia.

During, the 1948 season, Ananda played against Prince of Wales, S. Thomas', Mt. Lavinia, St. Peters Bambalapitiya, St. Anthony's and Dharmaraja Kandy and Mahinda College, Galle. The big match against Nalanda was played at the Colombo Oval and Bobby recalls that an entrance fee of one (01) Rupee was charged from spectators.

Bobby, in addition to being the captain, opened the bowling as well as batting. His opening bowling partner was Bonnie Wijesinghe while his batting partner was Tissa Vitharana, former Minister. The other members of the team included Cyril Fernando, Stanley Peiris, Neil Kulatunge, Chandra de Soysa, Harrison de Silva, Raja Panditarathne, Colvin Premaratne and D.U. Molligoda. A rare an unforgettable incident is his school career as captain was the hat trick he took against Dharmaraja in Kandy. In recognition as one of the best bowlers in the schools, he was selected to play for the combined schools against the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC). The SSC team was led by F.C. de Saram and included other members such as Sago Jayawickrama, Fairley Dalpathado, and Ben Navarathne who represented Ceylon. He won college colours for Athletics and Cricket and continued to play for Ananda in 1949 and 1950, performing magnificently as an aggressive bowler and hard hitting batsman.

During M.A. Jayasinghe's period as coach, Ananda produced several versatile cricketers such as P.W. Perera, P.G. Ranatunge, E.W. Balasuriya, B.R. Frenando & Togo Sugathadasa to name a few. As a team, Ananda was very formidable.